Credit Cards

[FaircreditguyFL]

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haulingthescoreup wrote:
PenFed is a little screwy if you try to PIF before the statement date, etc. My statement drops on the 2nd of the month, but this month I didn't see a new statement online until the 6th or 7th, and it wasn't on my reports until then. But once it did show up, the displayed date was the 2nd. I wound up having a balance report due to the confusion.

They also seem to have delays in when a charge actually posts to your online account, and they don't seem to show "pendings." So for those who like to have $0 reporting on their cards, you'll definitely need to stay on your toes with PenFed, stopping using it at least 5 days before the statement date and tracking to see if they post. Or more simply, let PenFed be that one card that does report for you.

I do hope that they unclutter their website pretty soon. It's a bit eccentric at the moment. But it's worth it!

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Not reporting a balance is counterproductive, IMHO.

[cheddar]

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FaircreditguyFL wrote:

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haulingthescoreup wrote:
PenFed is a little screwy if you try to PIF before the statement date, etc. My statement drops on the 2nd of the month, but this month I didn't see a new statement online until the 6th or 7th, and it wasn't on my reports until then. But once it did show up, the displayed date was the 2nd. I wound up having a balance report due to the confusion.

They also seem to have delays in when a charge actually posts to your online account, and they don't seem to show "pendings." So for those who like to have $0 reporting on their cards, you'll definitely need to stay on your toes with PenFed, stopping using it at least 5 days before the statement date and tracking to see if they post. Or more simply, let PenFed be that one card that does report for you.

I do hope that they unclutter their website pretty soon. It's a bit eccentric at the moment. But it's worth it!

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Not reporting a balance is counterproductive, IMHO.

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How so?

[smallfry]

See what happens if you report balances on all your credit cards at the same time.

[haulingthescoreup]

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FaircreditguyFL wrote:

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haulingthescoreup wrote:

PenFed is a little screwy if you try to PIF before the statement date, etc. My statement drops on the 2nd of the month, but this month I didn't see a new statement online until the 6th or 7th, and it wasn't on my reports until then. But once it did show up, the displayed date was the 2nd. I wound up having a balance report due to the confusion.

They also seem to have delays in when a charge actually posts to your online account, and they don't seem to show "pendings." So for those who like to have $0 reporting on their cards, you'll definitely need to stay on your toes with PenFed, stopping using it at least 5 days before the statement date and tracking to see if they post. Or more simply, let PenFed be that one card that does report for you.

I do hope that they unclutter their website pretty soon. It's a bit eccentric at the moment. But it's worth it!

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Not reporting a balance is counterproductive, IMHO.

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Not sure why.

Many people think that a balance has to report to show activity, but that's not so.

One example from personal experience: a card hadn't been used in 3-4 months, and then I used it. I got a one-time score ding (and Scorewatch alert) for using a "dormant" card. But when a balance posted on a different card that had been used without balances posting for many months before, no ding or alert.

Another happened-to-me: I have a credit card that hasn't posted a balance in a year. I used it to pay for new flooring, and at one point, the balance got really high. I paid it off before it posted, and it still reported a $0 balance. But the "highest balance" field on my reports now showed that intercycle balance.

So CCC's are able to report whether a card has been used during the billing cycle, even when $0 posts. It looks to me like they report the total amounts charged during that billing cycle, but we only see it if it's a new highest balance for us.

Even the full reports that we can get directly from the 3 CRA's don't show everything that gets reported.

[smallfry]

I can attest to that as well Hauling. I hadn't used my Walmart card for some time and when I used it I got a EQ CWG alert. I paid in full before the statement cut but the last activity shown was the current month. So they do see activity even if you don't let a balance report when they cut the statement.